How much flow for a 36g tank?

[Raibaru]

Hey guys,
I've had my tank up and running for about 8 months or so now and I'm going to upgrade my maxijet 1200's with one of the new Hydor koralia pumps. Although the koralia's are large, they are still about the same overall size as a maxijet with the attachment and they are quite the eye sore in the display tank. So I want to remove both and replace it with a single pump.

About how much flow should I be looking for in a 36g tank? The Koralia 2 is marked at 600gph. Is this what I want for this size tank? The stuff I have now has been doing great with the 2x 1200s with the deflectors (which I assume cuts the overall power of the 1200's in half at best).

Any thoughts?

 

[drummereef]

I always shoot for at least 20x minimum flow. It's all dependant on what corals you are keeping, but 20x is a good starting number. So for your tank that would be a minimum of 720gph total flow. I have 30x turnover in my 40g mixed reef. If you plan on keeping sps then I'd go with even more, like upwards of 40x+.

 

[internetreefer]

When you guys talk about flow is that mean return pump? or All the power head in the tank add together?

 

[Raibaru]

All the movement in the tank. So that would include a return pump and the waterheads etc. I assume you just add them up.

Well I got the Koralia4 which is rated at 1200gph which is 33 rotations an hour in a 36g tank, right? Well that thing probably would of lifted the rocks off the ground and thrown them out the side. so no idea how I could possibly get 40x in there.

So I was going to go with the 2 which is only 600gph which is about 16x.